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Mahdi Ramezani

Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, Canada

 

Abstract

In the dynamic landscape of language teaching, the quest for the perfect method has persisted across generations. The advent of communicative approaches in the late 1960s marked a turning point, leading to the rise and fall of various methodologies. Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT), as a comprehensive realization of Communicative Language Teaching, captivated scholars, educators, and teachers within the field of Second Language Acquisition (SLA). However, the rigid concept of teaching methods gradually faded, giving rise to the post-method pedagogy, often referred to as the “period of awakening”. During the post-method era, teaching methods made way for eclectic approaches, seemingly the only alternative to the traditional methodological constraints. Yet, later scholars such as Stern and Widdowson emphasised the importance of pragmatism in post-method pedagogy, leading to the devaluation of principled eclecticism. This paper explores post-method pedagogy, as conceptualized by Kumaravadivelu, by examining its pedagogical parameters. It elucidates the alignment between TBLT's principles and post-method pedagogy, positioning TBLT as a postmethod approach. Drawing on various Second Language Acquisition perspectives, the paper discusses the authenticity of TBLT as a potent Meta-pedagogy. The argument is presented that TBLT is rooted in principled pragmatism, making it a robust Metapedagogy.

 

Keywords

Meta-pedagogy, post-method pedagogy, principled pragmatism, pedagogic parameters, task-based language teaching